Various multisensory therapy devices are known to provide a relaxed environment to relieve stress in a person. One example of such a device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,767 wherein a housing is integrated with a chair in which a user person sits in a comfortable posture and is subjected to physiological therapeutic treatment such as audio sounds and video images which may be synchronized to an aromatic sensory component or other sensation producing devices to provide a distracting and relaxing environment to the user person. However, these devices are quite expensive, can be used by only a single person at one time and they generate a fixed and repetitive treatment. The treatment cannot be modified by the user person to provide different relaxation sessions. In order to modify the treatment, a second person, usually a technician, is required to operate a computer device. This second person also monitors the patient undergoing the sensory treatment and evaluates the patient and intervenes in the control of the sensory systems depending upon signals received from the components of the system. Accordingly, a profile of a patient being treated can be developed and stored in the computer. Such expensive systems are therefore adapted for use in clinics only for providing treatment and therapy to patients.
It would therefore be beneficial to provide a device which could be incorporated into a room of a home for personal use and which can provide a multitude of such beneficial physiological sensory treatments. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,112 describes an integrated stress reduction system which provides relaxing visual, sound, tactile and environmental effects to aid a user person in reducing his or her stress level. Again, in this system the stress level of the user person needs to be detected and a computer controls the intensity and duration of the relaxing effects. The system uses light pattern stress level display using a laser. The use of a laser adds to the complexity and high cost of such system and it is therefore only affordable to a very limited number of people. The apparatus also uses a large video device having a screen and which occupies a very large space. The laser beam is projected on the screen to form a pattern on the screen and speakers need to be mounted in the room at different locations as well as a video camera. It can therefore be concluded that this system is a biofeedback system which cannot be said to be readily available to the general public due to the expensive aspect thereof. Further, it occupies a large space and a special room needs to be built to accommodate such a system.